# Spanish Cedar Question



## Strickland (Feb 15, 2011)

I understand that Spanish cedar is the wood of choice for humidors because it 'breathes' at around 65% RH, meaning that it absorbs moisture when the RH is above 70-ish% and releases moisture when it's below 60% or so. My numbers may be off a little, but that's how I understand it anyway...

My question is: Don't Heartfelt beads and silica kitty litter do the same thing?

And if that the answer to that question is "yes", then do I actually need cedar in a humidor that uses beads?

I ask because I'm a hopeless DIY-er and it seems like every day I see a china cabinet or armoire that I know I could make into a beautiful humidor, but with Spanish cedar so expensive the cost becomes prohibitive if I want to line the walls with it or make trays out of it. (The fact that I'm on an exceedingly tight budget doesn't help either...)

And if I want that cedar smell, it seems to me that I could just use a suitably small piece of red cedar shingle to get it.


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## Muad'Dib (Mar 9, 2011)

I believe that, aside from flavor/aroma, you are also getting wood-mass. In other words, you are loading the humidor with material at your desired RH, which will help minimize any fluctuations due to adding dry sticks or opening the humidor door.


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

Spanish ceder is really a Mahogany it has much less oils and aroma than regular ceder. That being said regular ceder is a bad choice for cigars. Unless you like cigars that smell and taste like a shingle!


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## Big Bull (Mar 22, 2011)

Spanish cedar is actually in the mohogany family if I remember right. Cedar it selt is far to aromatic for use of humidors. If you look at tupperdors and winadors I would say the spanish cedar isn't nec. but more of a tradition at this point. Before they sued to you all tipes of thing for storage...glass, copper. 

Only concern for converting China cab. and the such for me would be sealing them up properly.


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## Nathan King (Nov 4, 2010)

Responses in red:



Strickland said:


> I understand that Spanish cedar is the wood of choice for humidors because it 'breathes' at around 65% RH, meaning that it absorbs moisture when the RH is above 70-ish% and releases moisture when it's below 60% or so. My numbers may be off a little, but that's how I understand it anyway...
> 
> My question is: Don't Heartfelt beads and silica kitty litter do the same thing?
> 
> ...


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## Strickland (Feb 15, 2011)

I wouldn't be using a lot of red cedar, only a small piece of a shingle as I said, and only for aroma.

There's a glass front curio cabinet for sale cheap on my local craigslist. If I decide to get it I'll see how it works without any cedar.

Thanks guys!


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## Nathan King (Nov 4, 2010)

Honestly, if you're on that tight of a budget I would make myself a tupperdor and be done with it.

P.S. I can send you a small block of Spanish cedar for free. I have some left over from ripping 3/16" spills on my tablesaw.


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## Big Bull (Mar 22, 2011)

Strickland said:


> I wouldn't be using a lot of red cedar, only a small piece of a shingle as I said, and only for aroma.
> 
> There's a glass front curio cabinet for sale cheap on my local craigslist. If I decide to get it I'll see how it works without any cedar.
> 
> Thanks guys!


Even a small peice would be too much. Very over powering and deff. would transfer to your stash.


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## Strickland (Feb 15, 2011)

Nathan King said:


> Honestly, if you're on that tight of a budget I would make myself a tupperdor and be done with it.
> 
> P.S. I can send you a small block of Spanish cedar for free. I have some left over from ripping 3/16" spills on my tablesaw.


Oh, it's not that I _need_ a new humidor (yet) it's just that, like I said, I'm a chronic DIY-er and a fancy, free-standing humi is something I'd like to make for myself some day.

And thanks for the generous offer, but don't trouble yourself. Right now this is little more than a "maybe someday" project...


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## Snagged (Aug 20, 2010)

Another thing to consider is the way wood expands with humidity. With a humidor, you're talking about maintaining high humidity INSIDE while the ambient humidity OUTSIDE may fluctuate widely. If the outside of a board contracts because it's dry and the inside of a board does not, you get a bow in the board. Boards are joined in different directions in a piece of furniture. If you get this type of movement, the joints can blow out. If the joints hold, the boards can split.

One of the reasons Spanish Cedar works so well for humidors is because it doesn't expand or contract dramatically given these swings in humidity. That's why a box made of maple, for example, can be lined with Spanish Cedar...the cedar is not going to expand in the high humidity and crack or push the edges of the box apart. 

One of the mistakes that new furniture builders make is assuming that wood is static. If you GLUE the top of a chest of drawers to the sides, for example, you risk warping or splitting the top. You have to fasten to the top to the case with cleats and screws that will move in a groove as the top expands and contracts. 

Some of this can be avoided if you use plywood, as it is much more stable than solid wood.

Now, the smell thing and using red cedar. Try to stop thinking that red cedar (that you get at Lowe's) and Spanish cedar are similar in any way. Red cedar is much more like pine in the way it moves and machines with power tools. Spanish cedar is in the mahogany family (as has been stated) and works much more like mahogany. They don't smell the same, they don't act the same, and they don't make your cigars taste the same. Someone just decided to call a tree Spanish cedar...the only thing they have in common is the name.

All that being said, I'd love to see you succeed at this transition. Do some research on wood before you start, and post some pics when you're done!


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## Oldmso54 (Jul 31, 2010)

Check out threads by Ed of Waxing Moon - he is the absolute "cedar" expert & like others have said: you don't want to use the cedar that lines closets (that's bad) - spanish cedar is a completely different wood. There have been several threads before on this subject so you should be able to find your answers (in my old age I just can't think of any of the titles to them right now!)


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

Spanish Cedar Wood:Cigar Humidor Wood Of Choice..

:behindsofa:eep::behindsofa:


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## Strickland (Feb 15, 2011)

OK. Red cedar is out. I never realized they were so different...


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## Pipedreamz (Feb 4, 2011)

Doesn't SC repel the dreaded beetle also?


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## Snagged (Aug 20, 2010)

Pipedreamz said:


> Doesn't SC repel the dreaded beetle also?


Well...supposedly. However, I'd bet that most of the unfortunate BOTLs that have had beetle infestations and posted scary pictures of them were storing their smokes in Spanish Cedar lined humidors. And the boxes that many beetle infested cigars are stored in...made from Spanish Cedar.

So, while the beetles may prefer to eat tobacco that isn't stored in Spanish Cedar, I don't know that it "repels" them.

Spanish Cedar probably repels beetles in the same way that a long line keeps a fat girl away from a Chinese buffet...given the choice, she'd avoid the line, but you know she's going to get some egg rolls.


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

Snagged said:


> Well...supposedly. However, I'd bet that most of the unfortunate BOTLs that have had beetle infestations and posted scary pictures of them were storing their smokes in Spanish Cedar lined humidors. And the boxes that many beetle infested cigars are stored in...made from Spanish Cedar.
> 
> So, while the beetles may prefer to eat tobacco that isn't stored in Spanish Cedar, I don't know that it "repels" them.
> 
> Spanish Cedar probably repels beetles in the same way that a long line keeps a fat girl away from a Chinese buffet...given the choice, she'd avoid the line, but you know she's going to get some egg rolls.


:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


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